Category: Music

Singing with Karen

Last night after work I cooked up some quinoa with chopped up chicken for dinner for me and Jen and it was lovely. Jen was working on a computer hardware project so we ate in the office. I did what I’ve been diligently doing for the last week and a half, I went to Netflix and watched an episode of Agents of Shield (season three, episode one… the blitzkrieg re-watch continues at a break neck pace) while I ate my quinoa.

I had Netflix on one monitor screen and on the other I opened up the Trello board I use to keep track of 50/90. I had a lot of songs in the these-need-lyrics bucket. Next thing I know, it’s 90 minutes later and there are five songs in the ready-for-vocals bucket. I cranked out five melodies and five lyrics in 90 minutes. How the hell did that happen?

This morning I got up early and drove over to the parking lot behind The Loop and put vocals on those five songs. It went okay. None of the gear issues I had the last time. Nothing special, musically, but I made some good progress.

I thought I was going to have my very own Karen moment. I seriously wonder, if my skin were a different color, would something have actually happened? Let me explain:

As I was finishing up the last line on the last song a car pulled up. It wasn’t directly next to me, but it was only two spots away. There was an older woman in the driver seat and as she pulled into the spot she did so very slowly. The whole time she was staring at me. You can bet your sweet ass that I was starting right back. I was sitting there with my headphones on and a mic in my hand and a computer on the seat next to me, and I was giving her the what-the-hell-are-you-looking-at-karen look. There was as much stink eye as my face is capable of.

She pulled into the spot, always looking at me. One heartbeat… two heartbeats… and she pulled out. She went to another spot, a row or two away from me, and sat there. She didn’t get out of the car.

(that white car was empty, and it had been there the whole time I was there)

Now as I said, I had just finished the last line in the last song, so it was time for me to go. I packed up my computer and all of my stuff and put it into the backpack I keep it in. I was a little disappointed. Had I had more to do I would have hung out longer, and karen wouldn’t have the opportunity to think that she drove me off… assuming she actually was a karen and actually would have thought that she drove me off… you know what I mean, right?

I decided to drive past her on my way out. It was out of my way, but it gave me the chance to continue my stink eye. She didn’t look at me as I drove by. I’d like to think it was because she was afraid she poked the bear.

Obviously all this was because she was meeting someone there and thought that maybe my car was that person’s car and when she saw the fat dude with the SM-57 she just went on her way. Maybe she was meeting a tinder date. She was probably retirement age, but maybe she was just looking for a hookup. Maybe she was a spy and she was meeting up with some illicit contact.

Most likely she was just wondering what the hell some fat ass red head was doing in the parking lot of closed movie theater at 8:30 in the morning.

Rock and Roll, am I right?

360/365

That Didn’t Hurt Too Much

The guitar was played tonight. I put rhythm parts onto four 50/90 songs. There was a little pain. Nothing too bad. There’s this thing where my thumb won’t bend at the knuckle. The doctor told me that my tendon is swollen and it gets caught on the bone. It hurts a little but it’s more unsettling when it happens than painful. It happened a couple of times while I was playing. The best way to describe the sensation is… icky.

I didn’t play anything challenging. It was all simple power chord riffy stuff, but it was still nice to not be in pain when I was expecting to be in pain, ya know?

Picture #1… please make a note of the bitchin’ DIY amp stand the Fender is sitting on.

358/365

Picture #2… it’s really muggy today. I was sweating, and my right arm was rubbing against the body of the guitar. See the sweaty smudge? That’s about 75% Calamine Lotion.

Picture #3… I usually keep the blinds closed on the window in my little practice nook. There was a thunderstorm today when I was setting up my stuff so I opened them. Wouldn’t you know it, I did so just in time to see a house down the street loading up to go to a wedding. How awesome was that? I mean… how do you have a big wedding ceremony and reception while maintaining social distance, I don’t know… but it’s still beautiful.

There was a wedding down the street, a quarantine-wedding.

Random Stuff

It’s Sunday. My thumb hurts, and the rash on my arm is bigger than it was yesterday. I’m falling apart completely. Quarantine is finally breaking me, it seems. So what’s a red head to do? How about some reflection on the state of his world? Also known as a post full of random stuff? Sounds good to me!

Today is kind of a big day. Symbolically, if not literally. Today is the last weekend day that the kids are at our house before Bellana goes back to school. We’re going all out. Jen is making her favorite dinner tonight. Harry is making her favorite dessert right now. I’m so worried about the future. I want her to go and have a great second year at college, but I don’t want her to go and be at risk of catching the plague. I want her to stay here and be safe. Basically all the same arguments I made last August, with a few pandemical twists. Mostly I just don’t want to miss her again. Selfish, yes, but it’s still true. At the same time, if they can keep the Covid bubble closed and stop her and the rest of the students from being exposed, then I want her to have a great semester. I want her to have a ball. She doesn’t leave for a little over a week, but her last weekend is a dad weekend so we’re giving her a send off a little early.

I feel a little better about my step son’s school plans now that I know he’s only going in person half of the time instead of all the time. I guess you could say I feel half better than full bad? Get it? I would feel full better if he was going full remote, but that’s probably going to require an outbreak in the high school and I don’t want that either. I want him home and safe.

Sports: The Bruins won their first Tuukka Rask free game. They are up two games to one in their first round series against the Whale. I have confidence in Jaroslav Halak, that’s not the issue. I just had more confidence in Rask. A Cup win seems less likely with Halak carrying them, but really given the way they played in the first few games into the return to play, I had lost most of my Cup confidence anyway. We’ll see how far they can go. I’d like to at least beat the friggin’ Whale.

The Red Sox are utterly atrocious. They are very close to being on pace for the lowest win/loss percentage in franchise history, and the franchise has been around for about 120 years or so…. that means they are really, really bad. We all knew it was coming though. They have one major league starter in their pitching rotation and he’s probably a #4 on a real staff. Maybe a #3. Chris Sale, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Nathan Eovaldi together is a nice start for a rotation, but with Sale out getting Tommy John surgery, and E-Rod out with Covid-19 related heart issues, that just leaves Eovaldi and a bunch of minor leaguers and that is a recipe for complete disaster. Add a few hitters having epically bad seasons so far and you have a team that has a good shot at the #1 overall draft pick next year.

Music… 50/90 is 42% complete. I just added songs #20 and 21. I’ve got seven songs with rhythm guitars down that are waiting for lyrics and vocals. That’s it. 28 songs total so far. I need to get to 34 by the end of the month (50/90 takes place over three months and 50/3=16.67). I also want to have a 10 song (at least) album in a month for August. Five of the completed songs were started and finished this month, and three of the unfinished songs were started this month too. Those three are the top of the priority list right now, and I have to keep the new stuff coming so I don’t fall behind. I feel like I am way behind on things, even though I’m really just at the halfway point.

A bird just flew into the window, about two feet away from me. I hope he’s okay. It looked like it might have been a glancing blow. More like he bounced off than crashed.

We applied for vote by mail ballots recently, and our 9/1 Primary election ballots were delivered a couple of days ago. Will there still be a functioning USPS for us to mail them back? The shit stain of a president admitted publicly that he’s hamstringing the post office to tamper with the November election, and the response from those who stand as a check and balance against him? They went on vacation. Also, there is a global pandemic that is killing a thousand Americans a day so they went on vacation. If you still think your government represents you, then that should show you the truth.

That’s kinda a bummer note to end on. Here, let me make it worse by adding a couple of new songs. That should push us all off the ledge, right?

Lots of fulltone Free Guitar

I put rhythm guitars on three songs and leads on two. I used my new Black Lives Matter overdrive pedal on all of it and it is soooo sweet. The Dan side of the D&M Drive is a good alternative to an OCD that doesn’t include any racists bullshit, but it was never quite equal. Now that issue has been resolved. The hole in my life that opened when I trashed my fulltone pedals has been filled by an OCD clone that is racists bullshit free and it is glorious. My OCD was a version 1.7, and the Black Lives Matter pedal is based on a version 1.2, but if this is how it sounds then I would have been just as happy with a 1.2 as a 1.7.

The pedal is on the big board, but it’s not velcro’d yet.

Most of what I did tonight was just the BLM on its own. I did use the Phase 90 and the Crybaby here and there, but it wasn’t until I started doing leads that I stacked the BLM after the KTR and it was just as glorious as I’d hoped. I still have to try it out at gig volume, but for now I’m willing to say that I am really, really happy.

This puts me at 19 songs finished, two ready to mix, and seven ready for lyrics/melody/vocals for a grand total of 28. I need to get to at least 34 by the end of August to stay on pace for 50 songs in 90 days.

How about the pain in my injured left thumb? I took a fist full of Tylenol about an hour before I started playing. I was in some pretty serious pain on the first song or two, but it eased up quite a bit after that. Something is wrong. I’m thinking of going to a doctor on Tuesday. I’ve got this really maddening little rash on my right arm too. I am literally falling apart before my own eyes.

350/365

Three Leads

After recording vocals on five songs this morning, I put leads on three of them tonight. I could have done more, but I decided to quit while I was ahead.

So my thumb… I hurt it weeks ago. I don’t remember how, I just woke up one day and ouch. It wasn’t bad. It was annoying, but nothing to worry about. I figured in a day or two it would be history.

Instead, it’s gotten steadily worse over time. The last couple of days it’s been really bad. Like, bad enough that I’m thinking of breaking lock down to go get an x-ray or something. Clearly there’s a bigger issue than just a boo boo.

Tonight was the first time since it started being a major problem that I tried to play the guitar. How’d it go? Okay. There was some pain, but the motions my left hand needs to do to play are not those that really kick my ass. I feel like I’m lucky, but will it get worse? Who knows.

I used my full pedal board tonight so I’ve been getting goofy with all of the toys. I used a fuzz pedal tonight, and the uni-vibe pedal and a flanger and lots of wah wah. Goofy, but fun. Just feeling good about my hand not sabotaging me. Like, whew, am I right?

Car Music

I put vocals on five songs today. That is good. What is not good is that I started having gear issues. The signal started cutting out on the last few takes on the last song. Was it the microphone? Was it the microphone cable? Was it the USB interface? Was it the USB cable? Was it the USB 2 to USB C adapter? Was it the computer?

I’m guessing it’s either the USB cable or the adapter, because those are the usual suspects. I was able to get everything down, but it could be a problem in the future. We will have to see how the next car music goes, whenever that may be.

First Page

So the 50/90 website has a page that lists all participants. It gives you a few values that you can use to sort the list. One is the amount of progress you’ve made. In other words, the number of songs you’ve posted. the list shows 50 (I think?) names before you have to move on to a second page. My goal is to get my dumb ass onto that first page and keep it there until I’m done.

I just posted my 16th song. I am now the last name on the first page. Kick ass. Too bad I don’t have any more songs close to finishing. I’ll probably get booted back to page two before I even publish this post.

Anyway, I finished four songs since Saturday night. Here are the ones that sucked the least.

Martin Birch

Martin Birch has passed away at the age of 71. Click the picture for a story (and also because it’s where I stole the image from).

You may not know who Martin Birch was, but I guarantee that if you listened to a radio at any point from 1970 onward, you have heard his work.

He was an audio engineer and a record producer. He first became well known for producing Deep Purple. Go listen to the Made in Japan album. That is probably the best sounding live album in the history of the universe and he was the engineer. He made that band sound incredible.

He was able to turn Deep Purple into an entire career. I wrote a paper on this once when I was in school. Remember those rock and roll family tree things that were popular for a while? Where it lists the names of all of the members of one band and then traces them all through every band they ever played in? Deep Purple spawned more bands than you could even believe, and every single one of them had 500 (approximate) members. Purple begat Gillan, Rainbow, Whiteshake, 100 bands that Glen Hughes played in, a couple of other things that Jon Lord and Ian Paice played for, and all of those bands had revolving door lineups and all of those people played in 100 bands each. It gets so ridiculous that eventually the Deep Purple family tree absorbs the Black Sabbath family tree. Don Airy played for Rainbow and Purple (and Whitesnake too? Maybe? Probably not) and he also played for Ozzy. Two Deep Purple members were, at different times, lead vocalists for Sabbath, and one Rainbow singer was as well (Ian Gillan, Glen Hughes, and Ronnie Dio, respectively).

This is important because Martin Birch produced pretty much all of them. All of the major ones at least. Rainbow, Whitesnake, Sabbath (during Dio’s tenure), and on and on. The guy was everywhere, and if the entire Deep Purple family tree isn’t enough famous business for you, he also produced Iron Maiden from 1982 (or was it 1981?) through 1992. Basically, all of that ground breaking music was filtered through his ears. The man is a legend and there will never be another like him.

For my money, if Made in Japan was the only record he ever worked on, he would still be a legend. Instead we have about a billion other brilliant sounding albums with his name on them.

Rest in Peace, Martin Birch.